B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop

B!KE: The Peterborough Community Cycling Hub is an incorporated not-for-profit, member-based cycling education and support organization. We’ve been working with the Peterborough community since 2006 teaching bike maintenance, repair, and riding skills. Mission & Mandate B!KE: The Peterborough Community Cycling Hub is a not-for-profit group providing an accessible shop space, tools and guidance for the development of bicycle mechanical skills.

We strive to encourage self-reliance through education in basic and advanced levels of maintenance by making available an active workshop space facilitated by knowledgeable volunteers.

We aspire to support cycling in the Peterborough community by reconditioning donated bicycles, making them safe and affordable.

Finally, along with the increased competency gained through hands-on learning opportunities, we hope to encourage the use of bicycles as a viable form of transportation for the public at large.

Contact Address: 293 George St. N. Peterborough, Ontario, K9J 3H3 Phone: 705-775-7227 Email: director (at) communitybikeshop (dot) org

Website

• http://www.communitybikeshop.org

See Also

• Community Bicycle Organizations

Programs

Open Shop

Open Shop is a drop-in program where you can learn to fix your own bicycle. The bicycle is a simple machine and learning to fix yours is an empowering experience. Our friendly staff and volunteer mechanics can assist you in competing basic maintenance, tricky repairs, and total bicycle overhauls!

We operate a professionally-equipped workshop with five repair stations. Each station includes a bicycle stand and the basic tools needed for most repairs. Additional tools are accessible on master tool boards and we have two truing stands for your use.

Use of the Open Shop program is included in a $35 annual B!KE membership. Paying $7 an hour to use Open Shop is also an option. If you cannot afford Open Shop, please let us know and we can waive these fees. B!KE has a small selection of new parts and a large selection of used parts available for purchase during Open Shop.

Access to workstations is given on a first come, first served basis. We provide the space, tools, and instruction. You provide the willingness to learn and bike in need of repair. Swing by the shop to get started!

Volunteer Build Night

Volunteer Build Night is a volunteer only drop-in program that runs every Thursday from 4-7. Its both a space for volunteers to learn new skills and to work on their own bicycles.

For many volunteers Build Night is a space to learn the skills of bicycle maintenance and repair. If you are interested in volunteering at B!KE but don’t know much about bicycles this is the place to start! Please send Tegan an email to let her know you plan to participate and she will be happy to provide you with an orientation.

Build Night also serves a few other functions in the B!KE community. Its a space in which Open Shop volunteers can get away from the hustle and bustle of teaching to work on their own bikes. Its also a time that we schedule volunteer only workshops and events during. Since volunteers play such an important role in B!KE‘s success, we see Build Night as a way to create space just for them.

Refurbished bicycles sold at B!KE are built primarily during Build Night with the careful guidance of B!KE staff. All refurbished bicycles are safety checked by a staff member upon their completion.

Earn-A-Bike

Earn-a-Bike is intended to provide access to bicycles for people who cannot afford to buy a bicycle. While building their own bike, people participating in Earn-a-Bike will both develop their mechanical skills and support B!KE through volunteerism.

To participate in Earn-a-Bike you much first attend one of our regularly scheduled orientation sessions. You can then work on your bicycle during Open Shop until it is complete. Each time you use the shop, you are asked to volunteer 15 t0 20 minutes to complete a small volunteer task such as working on other bikes or helping to keep the shop clean.

If you are a community member that is able to afford a B!KE membership and/or one of our used bikes, please choose to use our shop in this way. This will help to sustain programs like Adult Earn-a-Bike and Youth Earn-a-Bike so other members of our community can also have access to a bicycle.

Youth Earn-A-Bike

The Youth Earn-a-Bike program is an 8 session program in which youth aged 13-17 completely rebuild a bicycle that they get to keep. The program was originally designed to increase access to cycling for youth from lower income families and youth-at-risk. We offer this program to specific groups including schools and youth agencies as well as for free in the community at large.

Each of the eight sessions has a specific curriculum, six sessions focus on mechanics and two session focus on riding skills. During Earn-a-Bike youth work toward a tangible outcome and are empowered to take their transportation into their own hands. The program also engages youth in their community, builds mechanical skills, and fosters creative problem solving.

At the end of the eight-session program, the participants will go home with a newly refurbished bicycle, a lock, and a helmet. These bicycles, coupled with the skill development gained through Youth Earn-a-Bike, will give the participants a viable and affordable form of transportation.

B!KE @ Trent B!KE @ Trent is a fully equipped seasonal workshop on the Trent University campus. The workshop is located in the garage of Alumni House at the northern most part of Champlain College. The space is unheated and the Campus based Open Shop program runs as appropriate with our weather. The tiny shop boasts two work benches with stands, a master tool board, and a selection of new and used parts. Its a delightfully quiet place to work on your bike.

Pedal Power Pedal Power is a five-week in school cycling education program offered in partnership with GreenUp. Each Spring , we work with grade five classrooms across the city to deliver the Pedal Power curriculum.

Throughout the course of the Pedal Power program, children learn how to be safer and more confident on their bikes. The curriculum covers bike handling, traffic safety, and ride preparedness through a variety of on-bike drills and games. Each child in the program receives over six hours of on-bike instruction, ensuring that we have plenty of time to practice new skills! In addition to promoting physical activity, Pedal Power gives children the skills and knowledge to navigate their community on bike.

Since launching Pedal Power in 2013, we have worked with hundreds of children in many different Kawartha Pine Ride District schools.